Riding-saddle



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SETI-I WARD, OE PRINCETON, INDIANA.

RIDING-SADDLE.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 16,345, dated January 6, 1857.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SETI-I VARD, of Princeton, in the county of Gibsonand State of Indiana, have invented a new and useful Improvement inRiding-Saddletreesg and I do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which-Figure l, is a vert-ical longitudinal section of a riding saddle treeconstructed with my improvement. Fig. 2, is a plan of the same, thesuspended underground seat being removed. Fig. 3 is a rear View.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the severalfigures.

My invention relates to an improvement in suspended spring seat ridingsaddles and is designed to simplify and lessen the cost of theconstruction of the same render them less liable to derangement and moreeasy and pleasant for riding upon, as will be hereinafter shown.

The nature of my said improvement, consists, in having the cantleattached loosely at its ends or corners to the side bars of the tree, byhinge connections and at the center of its rear to a semi-circularbridge of the tree, by an elastic strip of rubber or webbing.

It consists 2nd in connection with the above in providing one, or moreelastic strips of rubber or webbing underneath the suspended groundseat.

' To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I.will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A, represents the tree, made of wood or any other suitable material andof any form desired, to suit the character of saddle to be constructedupon it.

B is the head of the tree, and C the cantle or back part of the same.The cantle is provided with a semi-circular recess on its under side inorder that it may be litted loosely over a semi-circular bridge D, whichis formed on the rear of the tree and serves for connecting its partstogether and also as part of the cantle, in the manner shown in Fig. 3.

E, E, are the hinge connections by which the cantle and tree areconnected loosely together. Each ofthese connections consists simply oftwo eye plates, one of which is attached to the cantle and the other tothe side bar of the tree, as shown.

F, is the strip of india-rubber or webbing by which the cantle isattached at the center of its rear to t-he bridge D, of the tree. Thisstrip, which forms the spring, as will be presently shown, is securedabove and be` low the semi-circular line representing the divisionbetween the bridge of t-he tree and the cantle by means of plates a, a,let into the cantle and bridge, as represented, the object of whichstrip of india rubber is to allow the seat to yield to the weight of aperson when on the saddle, and to bring the cantle back to its originalposition when the seat is relieved of its weight, thus dispensing with aspring under the center of the saddle tree, or, at any other point, thisfurnishing, of itself, all the elasticity necessary to make an easyseat, yielding readily to t-he weight placed upon it, and the motion ofthe horse, more simple in construction, cheaper; allowing beneath therider, a freer ventilation, than any other invention yet produced.

Gr, is the ground seat; it is formed of leather and fastened to the headand cantle, being suspended entirely above the side bars of the tree soas to give sufficient room for the seat to play up and down, when a manis riding.

By having the cantle made separate from the tree and hinging it at E, E,and combining it with the bridge D, as described, another importantadvantage, besides those of simplicity and neatness, is secured, viz:that of being able to get at the interior of the saddle in case of anyof the parts giving out; for by simply removing the top seat which isgenerally arranged for speedy removal and taking out three screws whichfasten the strip of rubber or webbing to the bridge D, the cantle can beturned up on its hinges in a manner to allow of the workman getting hishand conveniently into the interior of the saddle ;-and should it benecessary to take up the entire ground seat, it can be done by takingout the screws which fasten the hinges to the side bars; for by doingthis the cantle will be disconnected entirely from the side bars and theground seat can be turned bottom side up.

I am aware that riding saddles with suspension seats are not new. Alsothat metal springs have been employed in such saddles in various lWays,for the purpose of giving to the back part of the cantle secured aboveelasticity to the seat; therefore I do not and also below thesemi-circular opening 'of claim broadly, the suspension of the seat, thecantle by screw plates let in operating l5 nor the making of the sameelastic, nor d0 in manner described and for the purpose 0f 5 I claim themotion of the seat nor the Inoobviating the necessity for any springseither tion of the cantle nor the hinges, for these under the seat orcantle, it in itself giving devices are all shown in John C. F.Salosufficient elasticity to the seat as shown in mons tree patentedNov. 18th, 1851, neither -niy specification.

do I claim any device embodied in Mr. Solo- SETH VARD. 10 mons patent,but Witnesses: f

What I claim is N. B. FRENCH,

The application an india rubber spring J. C. KIMBALL.

